


All That Remains

by Quickspinner



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Endgame Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Episode: s03 Desperada, Episode: s03 Ladybug, Episode: s03 Poupeflekta | Reflekdoll, F/M, Luka knows, One Shot Collection, Reflekdoll
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-06
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2020-10-10 22:35:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 18,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20535710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quickspinner/pseuds/Quickspinner
Summary: A series of unrelated vignettes containing some flavor of Lukanette, mostly scenes I wrote that didn't fit into any of my longer pieces.





	1. The Music Comes from You

**Author's Note:**

> I watched the new episodes, and I can't even, so I thought I'd go ahead and get these out here for anyone else needing medicinal fanfiction as badly as I did. GIVE ME FLUFF, I NEED IT.

“Can I ask you something, Sass?” Lula twisted the bangle on his wrist. “About the Miraculous?”

“You may asssk,” the snake said with a grin. “There are many thingsss I am not permitted to anssswer.”

Luka smiled back. “Fair enough. I’ve just been thinking and trying to figure out how much of Viperion is me, and how much is the power of the Miraculous.” 

“Ah. Mossst Chosssen asssk that quessstion eventually. Let me consssider how bessst to exsssplain for you.” Sass’s tongue flipped rapidly as Luka waited.

“Your inssstrument,” Sass said at last. 

“My guitar?” Luka folded his legs on the bed and lifted the guitar into his lap, strumming idly.

“Yesss. The guitar makesss the music, but your machine makesss it fuller...easier for people to hear. Correct?”

“You mean the amp? Basically, yeah.” Luka’s brow creased. “So you’re saying…”

“You are the guitar. I am the amp. Sometimesss the amp mussst be turned up, when the space is too large for you to fill in your own. Sometimes, the amp is less necesssary. You turn it down. When you began asss Viperion, you required a great deal of asssissstance, as all Chosssen do in the beginning. The amp was turned up. The power prompted you to do the things you needed to. When you were confusssed, or unsssure, you reacted on inssstinct. Thisss was the power of the Miraculousss. Now you have more exsssperience. You make more choicccces on your own. The amp isss lower. It allowsss me to sssave my power for when it is truly needed. We are a more efficient team.” Sass floated up to his face and smiled. “But my friend, however the amp isss tuned, the music comesss from you.”

“That’s...good to know,” Luka replied, plucking thoughtfully at a string. The little snake gave a hissing laugh, eyes slitting into a sly expression.

“But that isss not why you asssked, isss it, my lovessstruck friend. You wisssh to know that you are not mistaken. You have sssenssed it, yesss?”

Luka blushed and tried not to smile. “Maybe.”

Sass chuckled. “My Chosssen are not easily fooled, even by the Miraculousss magic. Ssssecond Chance, like Lucky Charm, and  _ unlike _ Cataclysssm, requiresss insssight to be used effectively. Ssso, I answer the question you did not ask: the Ladybug Miraculousss does not change  _ her _ music either.”

“It only amplifies it,” Luka said, nodding slowly. “That makes sense. That’s why it sounds different but feels the same.” He grinned, his fingers moving in a familiar pattern over the guitar strings. “Thanks Sass. I thought you weren’t supposed to tell me anything about identities though.”

“I told you nothing about identitiessss,” the little snake replied smugly. “You are crafty, young one, to asssk nothing I could not anssswer, but in sssuch a way that the anssswer you truly ssseek is clear. I am proud.”

There was a heavy thud on the deck above their heads. Luka sighed. “Guess it’s time.”

“Until next time, Luka,” Sass smiled, and then he disappeared as Luka slipped the bangle off, and went up to the deck to meet Ladybug.


	2. Just This Once

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug is fed up with Chat Noir and plans to send him a message he can't possibly miss, and somehow Viperion finds himself in the middle.

Viperion stood on the edge of a roof and looked down with a sigh. Ladybug and Chat Noir were arguing again. He wondered if he could just leave. Ladybug knew where to find him, after all, and he didn’t really want to get caught in the crossfire after the cat riled her up. Angry Ladybug tended to be a bit...screechy. 

Before he could act on the impulse, however, Ladybug saw him.

“Viperion,” Ladybug bellowed. “Get down here!”

Viperion blinked at her tone but leapt off the building, relaxing into the instinctive control his suit granted to parkour him safely down to the street.

Other than Sass, that might be his favorite part of being a part-time superhero.

He landed in a crouch next to Ladybug, and straightened slowly to stand straight, looking between Ladybug and Chat. He didn’t know what was going on, but Ladybug was clearly pissed. He shifted his weight nervously as Ladybug turned back to Chat Noir.

“I’m tired of having this discussion. Let’s see if this finally gets the message through your thick head!” she hissed.

She whirled back toward Viperion and suddenly her hand was behind his neck, jerking him down to her height. He realized her intentions just in time to duck out from under her hand and spin away from her puckering lips. “Woah, hang on!” His cheeks were burning under his mask as he held up his hands. “Uh, sorry, no offense,” he said, his voice an octave higher than normal because he was face to face with a pissed off Ladybug and she wasn’t known for restraint. “You’re great and all, but I have a—“ He stopped as her face went from surprised to amused to affectionate and  _ shit he knew that look _ . “Oh,” Luka said dumbly, taking in the heavenly blue eyes and the freckles and the mouth that he knew very, very well. Slowly he dropped his hands and grinned. “Um, never mind. Carry on.”

She grabbed him again, maybe a little more gently this time, and he went willingly, letting her pull him down and crash her mouth into his. His eyes closed and his hands went to her hips automatically as she kissed him thoroughly.

Okay, he maybe had a new favorite thing about being a superhero.  _ Sorry Sass. _

She released him with a pop and a smile, then turned back to a gaping Chat Noir with her hands on her hips. “Any questions?”

Luka might have been gracious about it. Viperion, on the other hand, smirked when Chat gaped at him, and swiped his thumb across his lower lip to remove the smudge of pink lip gloss that he knew would be there. 

After all he just figured out the damn cat had been hitting on his girlfriend for months right in front of him. He wasn’t above gloating just a little bit. 

Just this once. 

Probably.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this before I saw Desperada, so now I feel like there needs to be a part 2 sometime in the future.


	3. Not Too Much to Ask

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luka's frustrated after Juleka's akumatization, and Marinette decides to keep him company so he won't attract another winged visitor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is post Reflekdoll fluff, so spoilers ahead, except, only I think for the first minute or two of the ep?

He sat on the deck of the liberty with his back against the rail, elbows propped against his knees as he stared at nothing. 

“Hello? Anybody home?” 

“Over here, Marinette,” he called without looking up, and soon he heard her clumping across the deck boards.

“Hi Luka, is Juleka home? I wanted to check on her after...well, you know.”

“No, she’s out with Rose,” Luka said shortly. 

Marinette came and knelt beside him, and he didn’t have to look at her to know what her face would be. “Luka, are you all right?”

“No,” he said slowly. “I’m really not.” He sighed, and ran both hands through his hair, locking them behind his neck. “Can you sit with me until I feel a little less like taking Hawkmoth apart with my bare hands?”

He heard her intake of breath, and then she was pressed close to his side, one arm around him. 

“She tries so hard,” he muttered. “She thinks so little of herself. And she finally tries to do something out of her comfort zone, to take one tiny step towards her dream, because I pushed her to, and then...this. And I’m not even allowed to be pissed off about it because then he might come for me.” His temper flared and he shoved to his feet. “Well bring it on, Hawkmoth,” he yelled, pacing the deck. “You come for me and my family, I’m coming for you, asshole.”

“Luka!” Marinette grabbed his arm with surprising strength, making him stumble back a few steps. For the first time in his life, he pulled away from her, turning to face the river.

“I could kill him, Marinette, I really could. If he was here I’d paint the deck with his blood and laugh.”

“That doesn’t sound like you, Luka,” she said, and he snorted softly, leaning his hands on the rail.

“Why do you think I meditate so much?” he grumbled. “Anger issues run in the family. You’ve met my mom. My dad was worse. That’s why Juleka’s the way she is. She spent so long trying to be invisible, and she got so good at it that she couldn’t stop. I think that’s why she wants to be a model now. She just wants to be seen.” He sighed, turning his back to the rail and dropping back down on the deck. He folded his arms over his knees. “It’s not so much to ask, is it? My sweet, beautiful baby sister deserves that much, doesn’t she? To be noticed and not ignored.” His eyes stung and he closed them tightly. 

“I’m so sorry, Luka,” Marinette said miserably, sitting next to him again and placing her hand on his shoulder. “If I’d just paid more attention to how Juleka was feeling...” Luka immediately put his hand on hers.

“This wasn’t your fault, I know that. You didn’t know, and Juleka won’t talk to anyone but me and sometimes Rose, and I didn’t...I wasn’t there...I can’t do everything for her, no matter how much I wish I could. If I’d been there I could have stopped it, but I can’t be there all the time.” He buried his face in his arms, eyes burning. “I’m just one person,” he muttered, but the words sounded hollow to his own ears. 

Because he could tell himself that as much as he wanted, but it didn’t change the fact that Juleka had been scared and alone and he wasn’t there. Luka was the only person she believed in and he wasn’t there for her. 

He felt Marinette shift up onto her knees, and then her arms slid around him, her head resting on top of his. Luka leaned on her gratefully and let out a shaky sigh. 

“It’s okay,” Marinette said softly. “You can be sad or mad or whatever you need. I’ll be here, I’ll keep you safe.”

Luka moved his arm out from between them and looped it around her waist. “You’re the best, Marinette,” he mumbled roughly, keeping his face down as the tears started to leak out of his eyes.

“I’m not,” she said, and his arm tightened around her waist when he heard the quiver in her voice. “But I’m all there is, so I can’t give up.” 

“You’re certainly the best I’ve ever met.”

“This isn’t about me, so just shut up and cry, Luka.”

He sighed, and gave up. “You can’t stay like that, come here.” It took some maneuvering to get her where she could hold him and watch for akumas at the same time, and she ended up finally sitting across his lap while he wept silently into her neck. He had a lot of practice at crying quietly. Her fingers felt good stroking through his hair. “Warn me if Juleka comes home,” he mumbled, and felt her flinch. He moved just slightly so his mouth wasn’t against her skin anymore. “I don’t want her to see me like this. Not when it’s because of...of what happened.”

“I’ll make sure. Don’t worry, Luka. Just feel what you need to feel.”

He closed his eyes. “Thanks, Marinette.”


	4. No Place Like Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes following your dreams leads you back home.

“Welcome home, Luka. Sass.”

“Hey Tikki,” Luka patted the little red kwami as she flew up to him. “Everything go okay while we were gone?” He shut the door and locked it behind him. It felt like he dropped more than the weight of his bags as they fell to the floor. 

“No major problems,” Tikki reported. 

“I wissssh to check on the hatchling,” Sass said, slipping out of Luka’s jacket. He flitted down the hall and phased through the door to the baby’s room.

Luka chuckled and went to the fridge, getting out the plate that he knew would be in there for Sass. He warmed it up in the microwave and left it out on the counter. 

“How was your gig?” Tikki asked.

Luka grabbed two cookies out of the jar on the counter and handed one to Tikki. “It was cool, but honestly, the whole time I just wanted to come home.” 

Tikki giggled. “That’s normal. It will get better, I promise.” She floated after him as he wandered into the living room, and giggled again as he sighed at the sight of the pair feet sticking up over the arm of his couch.

“He didn’t like them being alone while you were gone,” Tikki whispered, perching on Luka’s shoulder. “He slept here every night. Marinette kicked him out earlier since you were coming home tonight, but he just came back through the window.”

Luka rolled his eyes, and then walked over and slapped the designer shoes off the arm of his couch. “Rise and shine, Agreste.”

The blond sprawled on the couch started and rolled off, dumping the black cat kwami that had been sleeping on his face on the floor. He came up in a battle-ready couch, and then relaxed, dropping to his knees. “Hey, Luka,” he greeted, rubbing his eyes. “How was the gig?”

“Fine,” Luka told him. “But I’m home now, so why don’t you go sleep in your own bed.”

“I’m fine, I don’t mind the couch.”

Luka rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Adrien, you know we love you, but I haven’t seen my wife in three days. If you’re still here in the morning I guarantee you’re going to hear some things you wish you hadn’t.”

Adrien made a face, getting to his feet. “Gross, Couffaine.”

“Facts of life, man. Baby girl in there wasn’t dropped off by the stork.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Adrien stood, stretching. “Fine, I’ll go.” He reached down and scooped up Plagg, who’d continued to sleep despite being dumped on the floor. “Wake up, fur face, we’re going home.” 

Plagg just groaned. “Whatever, just hurry up so I can go back to sleep.” He perked up slightly as Sass glided past. “All good with the princess?”

“Yessss, shhhe isss ssssleeping well.” 

“She was fussy the first night you were gone,” Adrien said, getting to his feet. “But she seemed to settle after that.” He suited up and went for the window. 

“Hey,” Luka said, just before Chat leapt, “Thanks for keeping an eye on my girls.”

Chat grinned back at him and hopped out of the window with his trademark two-fingered salute. 

Luka sighed. Adrien’s frequent presence in their life was one of the few points of contention between Luka and Marinette. Not because he disliked the model or had any doubt about his wife’s affection or fidelity, but because he knew Adrien desperately wanted what Luka and Marinette had together, and Luka was of the opinion that he would never get it if Marinette didn’t set some boundaries. 

He’d accepted the inevitability of the black cat’s presence in their lives as soon as he’d learned his fiancé was Ladybug. Though their choices had led them away from a romantic relationship, everyone knew that the cat and the bug were soulmates. Luka could no more keep them apart than he could tear Marinette’s soul in two. 

But for someone who longed for a family the way Adrien did, it was sad to see him settle for this existence on the periphery of theirs. He deserved someone who could love him wholly and completely, as Luka did Marinette. He deserved to be a father, not just an adopted uncle. He deserved real happiness, and neither he nor Marinette would have it until their relationship was equal again. 

And for that to happen, Adrien needed to get out of their damn house and go meet some women. Or men. Somebody.  _ Anybody. _ Luka shook his head and turned away from the window.

Luka felt Tikki land on his shoulder and pat his cheek. “I really do think he’s getting better. Plagg said he’s been going out more. He was just worried while you were gone. Do you want me to wake up Marinette?”

Luka had learned the hard way that one did not just slip into bed and snuggle up to a sleeping Ladybug. Now when he came home late, Tikki would rouse Marinette before he came to bed. Tikki was much harder to hit than Luka if Marinette woke up swinging. 

There were a lot of weird things you got used to when you were married to a superhero who’d spent the majority of her teenage years fighting villains on a weekly basis. 

“Not yet,” he told the little kwami. “I need to shower first. I feel gross and she hates when I come to bed smelling like the clubs.”

Tikki giggled. “Okay. Let me know when you’re ready.” She flew back to her favorite cushion and settled down.

The kwamis weren’t technically banned from the bedroom, but they both respected their chosens’ desire for this one part of the home to remain private. Luka didn’t try to keep quiet as he crossed to the bathroom; Marinette would sleep like a rock as long as all the sounds he made were normal. He spared a fond look back at his wife in the light coming through the bathroom door. She was sprawled crookedly on the bed, hugging (and probably drooling on) his pillow. She’d been so exhausted since the baby came. It was nice to see her getting some real sleep.

He left the bathroom in much better spirits, clean and surrounded by the scents of home. He called Tikki and she came in to light on Marinette’s cheek, patting softly. Luka watched with mild amusement as Tikki’s approach became progressively less gentle, until finally Marinette flailed, and then grumbled and settled back on the bed. 

That was his cue. “Thanks Tikki,” he waved at the little red kwami as she flitted past him out of the room, and finally climbed into bed beside his wife. “Hi babe,” he murmured as he slid his arms around her, enjoying the way she shivered at his voice so close. It felt so good to nuzzle into her hair and wrap himself around her.

“Welcome home,” she said sleepily, and then hummed as he kissed her cheek and behind her ear. 

“I missed you,” he sighed. “I don’t think I’ll be taking another gig away from home anytime soon.” 

“Lukaaa,” Marinette whined, cuddling back against him. “We promised that having a family wouldn’t keep you from chasing your dreams.”

“It’s not. It just turns out my dreams are all right here.” He knew she was tired, but he gave into temptation just a bit, and pressed his mouth to her neck, running his tongue lightly over her pulse. “We can talk about it later,” he promised. “Go back to sleep.” 

She reached back to elbow him. “Don’t start something you aren’t going to finish, snake boy.”

Luka bit his lip to keep in a suggestive response. “Love you babe.”

“Love you more,” she mumbled.

  
  
  
  



	5. The Big Guns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luka sees Marinette about to be escorted out of the school and calls in his new family connections to help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is really silly but, you know, it makes at least as much sense as the actual ending for “Ladybug,” so why not have some fun.
> 
> Spoilers for Ladybug and Desperada.
> 
> Speaking of which...
> 
> I kind of ran with the theory of Jagged Stone being Luka’s father. Jagged’s excited to have such a cool son and Luka’s still pretty salty over Jagged leaving his mom and not being in his life.

It was just an ordinary day, until he saw the commotion outside the locker rooms as he and his classmates were walking to their next class. There was a small crowd gathered, the principal standing with a stern expression, and—

“Marinette?” he said, and she turned towards him. “What’s going on?”

“Luka,” Marinette wavered, and the tears in her eyes made him feel sick. “Luka, they--no one believes me, they think I—I  _ cheated _ and I  _ stole _ and—and that I pushed Lila down the stairs, and everyone believes her and no one believes me!” It was almost a wail by the time she finished.

There was a thud as Luka dropped his school bag to the ground and crossed the floor to Marinette. He wrapped one arm around her waist and the other around her back, cradling her head in his hand and drawing her tight against him. “You can’t be serious,” he said, looking around at the angry faces in disbelief. “Marinette would never—” His eyes landed on his sister and narrowed slightly. “Juleka, I can’t believe you. After everything Marinette’s done for Kitty Section and for  _ you _ .”

Juleka flinched and looked away. Luka felt his friends gather at his back, and it just made him more angry, because Marinette deserved that kind of support too.

Still holding Marinette tightly with one arm, Luka dropped his other hand to his pocket and pulled out his phone, and after only a brief hesitation, dialed his newest contact. “Hey, Penny,” he said cooly when she picked up. “Tell dear old dad that if he really wants to make things up with me, he better get his ass down to my school right now. And if that doesn’t get him moving, tell him it’s for Marinette.”

“Luka?” Marinette’s shaky voice emerged from his shirt. 

“I got this,” he told her, hanging up the phone and pocketing it. “Everything’s going to be fine.”

“You need to calm down,” she whispered, gripping his shirt. “I don’t want you to--we already had some akumas earlier and they might be back.”

“I won’t let anyone hurt you,” he replied, unknowingly echoing Silencer’s words. 

“Oh, Principal Damocles,” Lila wailed, attaching herself to the principal’s arm. “I’ll never be safe in this school again, not if Marinette’s punk boyfriend and his friends are going to be after me every day.”

Rose gasped. “Luka would never.” 

Juleka turned and aimed a death glare at Lila. “You keep your mouth shut about my brother,” she snapped, her outrage making her voice unexpectedly clear. 

“Glad to hear you haven’t completely lost your mind, sis,” Luka muttered.

“Shut up, jerk,” she mumbled back, dropping her head. 

“This is all ridiculous, utterly ridiculous,” Chloe said loudly. “Dupain-Cheng couldn’t even carry out a plan to ruin her rival’s dress without having a moral crisis. No way she has the spine for any of this.”

Marinette turned her face away from Luka’s shirt to look at Chloe, who just sniffed and tossed her hair. “Um...thanks, Chloe. I think.”

Luka’s eyes swept the crowd and landed on a shock of blonde. “Adrien, you can’t seriously tell me you believe this.”

“Not for a minute,” Adrien answered stoutly. Marinette gasped and twisted in Luka’s arms to look at him. “I’m sorry, Marinette,” Adrien said remorsefully. “I should have been louder about it the first time.” 

“Enough of this disruption,” Mr. Damocles puffed up. “Miss Dupain-Cheng will be escorted from the school premises, now.” 

Tom patted Sabine’s back, as she began to compose herself. “Come on, dear, we’ll sort this out once we get home.”

There was suddenly a whoop and a holler down the stairs, and they all looked across the courtyard for the source. Jagged Stone burst through the school doors, Fang on a leash beside him.

“Luka!” he bellowed. “Where are you, kid?”

“Up here,” Luka called back. 

Jagged leapt up the stairs two and three at a time as a haggard-looking Penny came behind.

“What’s all this about?” Jagged demanded. “You got some nerve, kid, sending me an ultimatum like that--”

“Never mind that,” Luka interrupted. “That girl there, with the red jacket, do you know her?”

“Huh?” Jagged squinted at Lila. “No, never seen her before, why?”

“So she didn’t save your kitten?”

“I...never had a kitten?” Jagged said, looking bewildered. “What in rock ‘n roll is going on here, Luka?”

“So you never wrote a song for her? Her name is Lila Rossi.”

“Have you lost your rock ‘n roll mind? I just told you I don’t know her, why would I write a song about her.” Jagged turned as Penny came puffing up the stairs. “Penny, do I know somebody named Lila Rossi?”

“No, Jagged,” Penny said, pulling out her phone and scrolling to check. “I don’t remember that name and it’s not in any of your contacts.

“So if Lila here said that she developed an ear problem because she rescued your kitten from getting run over by a jet on the runway or whatever it was, and that you wrote a song about her to thank her for it, she’d be lying through her teeth,” Luka stated baldly, looking at the other adults.

“Er, yeah, that’d about sum it up.” Jagged scratched his head. “What’s this all about?”

Luka turned Marinette around in his arms so that she faced Jagged. “What about her?”

“Marinette!” Jagged exclaimed delightedly. “My favorite little designer! Aww, why the long face? Listen if the poster work you’ve been doing for me is too much, you can just say so, I know you’re busy.”

“Thanks Jagged,” Marinette managed, wiping at her face. “I’ll get them done, I promise. Looks like I’m going to have some free time on my hands anyway.”

“Mr. Stone,” Principal Damocles tried again, “As you have no students enrolled in this school, you are not permitted on the property. You’re causing a disruption to the learning environment and you should leave immediately.”

“Hey,” Jagged said, stepping forward to tower over the principal, “I’m here because my rock ‘n roll son said he needed me, and who are you to tell me where I can go? I could buy this whole school and everything in it so don’t you push me.”

“Your son?” chorused a bunch of voices, and Luka sighed.

“Yeah, great, thanks for that,  _ Dad _ ,” he muttered bitterly, tucking Marinette back against him. “Look, Principal Damocles, my point with all this is that she—” he pointed at Lila, not caring if it was rude, “Has been lying since she got to this school. Meanwhile everyone here knows Marinette and knows everything she’s being accused of is so totally out of character for her that it’s laughable.”

“Lila lied about Ladybug too,” Adrien cut in, and heads swivelled to look at him. He shrugged. “I’m sorry Lila, but I warned you I wouldn’t stand by and let you hurt the people I care about.” He looked around at the rest of the class. “Ladybug heard somehow what Lila was saying and she was not happy about it.”

“I knew it!” Chloe cried.

“So please explain to me why anybody would believe this  _ liar _ over Marinette?” Luka demanded. 

“My necklace was in her locker!” Lila cried. “You  _ all _ saw it.”

Luka rolled his eyes. “These lockers don’t even lock. It wouldn’t be the first time something got put in the wrong one. Accidentally or on purpose.” He gave Juleka a pointed look, and she put her fingers over her mouth, remembering, he didn’t doubt, the time last year when she’d been frantically searching for her favorite bracelet because she had accidentally placed it in the locker one row down from hers without paying attention.

“Right, whatever,” Jagged sighed. “Look, kid, I have a whole army of lawyers that deal with stuff like this.” He paused. “Wait, I do still have those, right Penny?”

“Oh, what, did you fire them without warning too?” Luka muttered under his breath.

“Yes, Jagged,” Penny said quickly, glancing at Luka. “We do, and they’re very careful of how the Jagged Stone name is used.” She looked pointedly at Lila. “They’ll have a field day with this.”

“Okay, so, we’ll let them sort this out.” Jagged shrugged. “Missy here won’t have much of a reputation when they’re done with her.”

“W-wait, you can’t do that,” Lila gasped, looking around frantically. The circle of supporters had withdrawn considerably. 

“Sure I can,” snorted Jagged. “Well, Penny can. So you’d better start talking fast, catch my drift. Ah!” He held up a finger as Lila opened her mouth. “Not me you have to convince.” He pointed at Luka.

Lila resembled a fish for a brief moment, and then broke down into the most exaggerated crocodile tears Luka had ever seen. “Oh, oh no, I just remembered...I did bring that necklace to school this morning. I thought I put it in my locker, but I was running late because I had to stop and help an old man who nearly got hit by a car! So I just stuffed it in there without looking and--and when I came back it was gone, and then I saw it in Marinette’s locker and naturally I thought--”

“Yeah, whatever,” Luka said impatiently. “So Marinette didn’t steal your necklace. What else?”

“Well, I mean, I don’t know anything about how Marinette could have gotten the test answers, but like she said it might be that somebody stuck them in her bag. Marinette’s a really good student, after all!”

“She studied for hours for that test,” Sabine interjected, looking more composed and angrier by the minute. “I quizzed her on it myself, I know she knew the answers.”

“Not to mention all the snacks we carried up to her while she was studying,” Tom added. “And why weren’t the test answers kept secure in the first place? It’s not as if Marinette is--well, honey, you aren’t really a master of subtlety.” He offered her a kind smile.

“What about the stairs?” Juleka demanded, but she’d shifted to stand next to her brother and her arms were folded.

“I—ell, maybe I was mistaken? Maybe we were just walking too close together and Marinette just bumped me a little—” 

“That is so not true, I didn’t touch you!” Marinette cried. 

“Well, well, I think this has all been cleared up satisfactorily,” Mr. Damocles said, eyeing Jagged Stone and Fang nervously. Luka could see he’d done the math and concluded that if Chloe Bourgeois, Adrien Agreste, and Jagged Stone could cause him far more trouble than one ambassador. “So let’s all get on with our day, shall we?” 

“You’re just going to let her get away with accusing me of all this?” Marinette demanded as the crowd began to disperse.

“Your boyfriend may have gotten you out of this one, but you’re on thin ice, young lady,” Mr. Damocles told her. “Don’t push your luck.”

“None of this is Marinette’s fault, don’t threaten her because you lost face,” Luka shot back, pulling her closer at the same time. “And I’m not her boyfriend,” he added, for the benefit of the small crowd still watching, which included Adrien.

“Yes, you are,” Marinette spoke up, pulling back to look up at him as he stared at her in surprise. She bit her lip. “If you still want to be.”

“Of course I do,” he said softly, rubbing his thumb across her cheek. “But maybe this is something we should talk about later.” He smiled. “Right now, I think we both have classes to get to. Nobody’s going to bother you any more today, at least.” Luka shot one more look at Mr. Damocles, who harrumphed and turned away. 

Marinette rose up on her toes to kiss his cheek. “Thank you for everything, Luka. You’re really my hero today.”

“Well,” he said, in her ear. “I figure you ought to let somebody else have a turn for a change.” He winked at her shocked look and added in a more normal tone, “Go talk to your parents. I’ll see you after school and we can talk?”

Marinette’s shock melted into a happy smile, and Luka knew that everything he’d just done was worth it - even if it meant outing himself as Jagged’s son and publicly claiming the man as his father. 

He’d deal with all that later. As well as Marinette’s parents, who were eyeing him with so many mixed emotions that he really didn’t want to think about. He sighed and turned, offering his hand to Jagged. “Thanks,” he said. Jagged took his hand and then pulled him into an embrace. Luka grimaced but endured it. 

“I told you you could count on me. I told you I would make it up to you. I’m glad you trusted me enough to call.”

“Yeah, well,” Luka muttered, patting Jagged’s arm awkwardly. “It’s a start.” He paused, and sighed. “Thanks for being there when I needed you.”

“What’s that?” Jagged said, releasing him and wiggling his eyebrows. “Thanks for being there when I needed you,  _ Dad _ ?”

“Don’t push it,” Luka warned him, and turned to shake hands with Penny. “Really, thank you,” he said, a little more sincerely. Penny smiled and nodded at him, and started herding Jagged and Fang out the door.

Luka turned to his friends, who were still standing awestruck.

“Dude,” one of them said, “Your  _ dad  _ is  _ Jagged Stone _ ?”

Luka sighed, and picked up his bag. “Yeah, yeah. Come on, I’ll tell you the whole story during lunch. Let’s go.”


	6. In the Moment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pure fluff. A marriage proposal neither of them expected.

It happens as easy as breathing. 

He’s on the deck of the Liberty, reclining in a deck chair under the stars with Marinette on his lap. She leans on his chest as they exchange lazy kisses in the wind down from a very satisfying makeout session, and it just happens.

Because when she says, in the course of the nothings they’ve been murmuring, “You’ve already given me your music and your heart. What else could I ask for?” the answer is clear.

“My life. Will you marry me, Marinette?” He's surprisingly calm as she sits up on his lap and stares down at him. “I didn’t plan this, I don’t have a ring or anything. But it feels right. I want to marry you.” He bites back the urge to tack on a qualifier, a whenever you’re ready. It would be true, he will marry her tomorrow or next week or next year or three years or five years from now. But for once, he won’t downplay his own desires. He means this like they were thirty instead of barely legal. He will wait if he must but the truth is he wants to marry her now, not when they’re older or once things settle or when the time comes. 

She still hasn’t answered him. He touches her face, skims her cheek with his palm lightly.

“Whatever you’re thinking, just say it,” he told her. “It’ll be okay.”

“Yes,” she breathed. “I’ll marry you.”

It’s hard to kiss when your smile is about to split your face in half. 

“You’re shaking,” he observes, winding his arms around her. 

“I’m sorry.”

“You’re scared?”

“Not...exactly. I didn’t realize how much I wanted it until you said it and that scared me a little, just how intensely I feel. But I’m not scared of you, or of marrying you, or of life with you.” She made a face. “I might be a little scared of telling my parents. They might be thrilled or they might think we’re too young. It’ll probably be both. What about your mom?”

He smiles a little at the way her mind has raced ahead of the moment. “Hard to say. She won’t try to stop us but she’s pretty jaded about young love and marriage in general.”

“Well, they’ll all get used to the idea,” she says dismissively, and he chuckles.

They argue a bit about a ring. Marinette says she doesn’t need one and he shouldn’t spend money they might need later, but Luka wants her to have it. Not because of tradition, he is not traditional and never has been, but Marinette is, and he wants her to have every little girl dream he can give her. He is no Adrien Agreste and he knows there will be many sacrifices in their future, that the life they build will be tiny and cramped and a struggle, but he can at least give her the girlish pleasure of being fussed over by her friends and family. 

“Wait,” he suddenly says, mid-argument. “I have a crazy idea.”

“Crazier than getting married?” Marinette says skeptically. 

“That’s the sanest idea I’ve ever had,” he laughed as he went below deck, returning with wire cutters, a pair of pliers, and his guitar.

“Luka,” she protests as he sits down and starts taking the strings off the guitar.

“I’ve got more,” he says dismissively. 

“Then why not just use those?” she asks in exasperation, taking the first string he hands her. 

“I’ve never played you a love song on those.”

By the time she recovers from that enough to speak, he has the strings off and sets the guitar aside. It takes both their ingenuity, some trial and error, and a lot of giggling, but together they manage to twist two strings tightly together and into a circle that fits around Marinette’s tiny ring finger.

Marinette laughs when Luka gets down on one knee to slide the ring on her finger. “So you can tell your friends I did everything right,” he teases her. Luka laughs when Marinette insists on making another ring and does the same for him. “So you can tell your mom I’m not a slave to the patriarchy,” she teased him back, and the conversation becomes hard to follow in the laughter and the kisses that follow. 

Before he takes her home, she watches him put shining new strings on the guitar, and the first song he plays on them is a love song.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story brought to you by an Etsy search for guitar string jewelry and a deep and abiding desire not to even get out of bed this morning. Daydreaming Lukanette fluff > adult responsibilities


	7. Well That Was a Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Post Desperada Couffaine family love. I've been holding onto this because it feels like there should be more to it, but I think I'm going to leave it here for now.

“Well,” Luka sank down on his bed and rubbed his eyes. “That was a day.”

Juleka peeked over at him from her desk. “You okay?”

“I will be,” he said quietly. “Eventually.”

“I’m sorry. I tried to warn you. She does a lot of stupid things when Adrien’s around.”

“It’s okay,” Luka sighed, hanging his head and running his fingers through his hair until his hands rested behind his neck. “I do a lot of stupid things when she’s around too,” he muttered. 

“Like giving up your guitar?”

“We have other guitars.”

“Other guitars you could have given him to use.”

He had no reply to that. 

“She’ll be back, you know. Tomorrow, or maybe even tonight. Once she’s out of the Adrien zone she’s going to realize she’s an idiot and come running in to apologize with her big blue teary eyes.”

Luka groaned and swore under his breath. “I hope it’s not tonight. I’m not sure I have it in me to be the bigger man just now.”

“You don’t have to be. You could actually tell her how much she hurt you.”

“It’s fine,” he said quickly, “It's not like it was a surprise. It’s not like I didn’t know how she felt about him.” He looked up in surprise at the sudden thunk-rattle and saw Juleka on her feet, hands pressed down on the desk.

“Stop saying it’s okay! It’s not okay for her to hurt you! You’re not fine, Luka!”

Luka sighed, and got up. “You’re right.” He went to her and hugged her to him. “I’m not fine. But I will be. I promise.”

“Can’t you just...get over her?” Juleka mumbled. “I know she’s cool, but there’s other cool girls. Ones that aren’t stupidly obsessed with other guys.”

Luka sighed. “Someday. I will, I know. But…” he shrugged. “I like Marinette. And I just...like being in love I guess. Having someone to think about, even if she’s not thinking about me. It feels good to know that I’m capable of feeling that way about someone.”

Juleka leaned into him a little more, making him stagger slightly. “You’re not like dad.” She snorted softly. “Or Jagged Stone, apparently.”

Luka echoed her snort. “Yeah, that was a hell of a revelation, wasn’t it? Probably would’ve been weird to play with him anyway after all that anyway.” 

Juleka sighed. “You deserve better than loving somebody who doesn’t love you back.”

“I know that. I do. Someday.” He gave her a little squeeze. “I’m going to bed early. If Marinette comes looking for me, tell her I’ll talk to her tomorrow, okay?”

“Sure,” Juleka sighed, slumping back into her chair. 

“Goodnight, sis,” he said, pulling the partition closed. He fell back on his bed and kicked off his shoes with a sigh.

When he woke in the morning, Juleka silently handed him a pink box of macarons.

* * *

It took him half the box of macarons and most of the afternoon to get up the courage to talk to his mother. Finally he sighed, dusted the crumbs off his hands, and went looking for her. “Hey,” Luka said, leaning on the doorway of the wheel house. “You okay, Maman?”

Anarka gave a short laugh. “Don’t worry about me, son.”

“That’s not an answer.” 

“I’ll be fine,” Anarka told him, finally turning to face him. 

Luka studied her face. “That’s a no, isn’t it.”

Anarka made a face, and folded her arms. “This is how it always is with him. Chaos follows him wherever he goes.” 

Luka raised an eyebrow. “You love chaos, Maman.”

For a moment, they looked at each other. Finally Luka sighed. “Are you going to make me ask?”

Anarka deflated slightly. 

“Maman, you know I’d never judge your choices. Just tell me.”

“I can’t,” she said bluntly, meeting his eyes, “Because I don’t know. I never thought it was important.” Luka’s lips thinned, not sure he agreed with that assessment. “So if you really want the answer to your question, you’ll have to talk to him. But,” Anarka softened slightly, as she gazed at Luka, and he felt the warmth of her affection wash over him. “Here’s what I do know. You are  _ my _ son. I raised you, and I taught you, and I’ve seen from the beginning what everybody else sees as soon as you pick up that guitar. You have such a gift. More than just a talent for music. You were born to play, to connect people with your music. Whatever you choose to do with that gift, you’ll be great.” She walked over and put her hand on Luka’s shoulder, squeezing lightly. “You can be as famous as that mangy pirate if that’s what you want. Or you can keep your music for the people you love.”

“Like you did?” he said softly, and she nodded. 

“Whatever you choose, Luka, you’ll be great. But greatness isn’t measured in money or fame.” She sighed, dropping her hand. “And let me tell you what else I know. Jagged will be back. Now he knows we’re here, he’ll be back, and sooner or later he’ll hear you play and he’ll come sniffing. And whatever you decide to do about that, I’ll respect. But you  _ don’t need him _ , son. Don’t let him dazzle you into thinking you do. Maybe you’d get famous a little faster, but the life he lives? It’s not what I want for you. So when he does come, think hard, my love. And when you figure out what you want, hold your ground. Don’t let him drag you into being somebody you don’t want to be.”

Luka nodded slowly. “I understand.” He chewed over that for a moment, and then pushed off the door. “Thanks for being honest with me, Maman. I love you.” He put his arms around her and hugged her, let her hug him back with one of her crushing embraces. “I’m gonna go play,” he said, letting go and walking out without looking back at his mother’s expression.


	8. When the Masks Come Off

Luka Couffaine has an excellent poker face. No one looking at him now would know how upset he is. There is only one person in the world who can see through him and she’s not paying attention. She’s staring at their small TV with her hand over her mouth in horror, the other hand brushing back her purple tipped bangs as if looking with two eyes will prove it all to be some horrible illusion that will melt away.

It’s no less real, as they watch a grotesque slow motion replay of Ladybug knocked into a wall, and his eyes fix on the bloody smear she leaves as she slides down the wall into a limp heap. Luka’s expression doesn’t change but his hand goes to his wrist - his bare wrist. Ladybug hadn’t fetched him for the battle. He hadn’t been there to save her. 

He learned early on that he couldn’t protect her, that no matter how he uses his Miraculous combat skills, the Snake is not meant to be a front line fighter. He is most useful watching, waiting, analyzing. His strengths are patience and insight, and combat is a last resort. Viperion is the only one in the battle even more indispensable than Ladybug. So even if he’d been there, he probably couldn’t have stopped it.

But he could have undone it. Viperion is the only one more indispensable than Ladybug, because he is the only one who can save her when everyone else has failed, including herself. 

Luka’s expression doesn’t change as he watches the rest of the battle unfold. He watches Chat Noir whisk Ladybug away, and return alone to the fight. Luka’s fist clenches just a little tighter because he knows Chat Noir doesn’t think like Ladybug, and that frequently when Ladybug is hurt, Chat doesn’t think at all. Viperion has scolded him for it before.

“You make her a bigger target. Everyone can see that if you take out Ladybug, Chat Noir loses his mind. Either they attack her and get you because you leap in front of it, or they take her out and you’re out of commission because you can’t think enough to fight. You have to learn to keep it together.”

"That’s easy for you to say,” Chat hissed. The conversation had gone pretty much downhill from there. 

Chat Noir however, is unusually focused this time. Maybe some of that talk did sink in. Maybe he just knows the Miraculous Cure is Ladybug’s only hope. He manages to break the right object, and then he bounds away and returns with a swaying Ladybug, covered with blood. He has to help her purify the akuma, and most importantly, release the Miraculous ladybugs. 

In moments she is standing unassisted and unbloodied, waving reassuringly to the bystanders, before both heroes disappear.

“I’m going out,” Luka says softly, turning before Juleka can look at him. “I probably won’t be back for dinner. Don’t let Maman forget to eat, okay?”

Juleka grunts a reply, still fixed on the TV, and Luka walks out of the room, off the boat, and straight for the Dupain-Cheng bakery.

His expression is nothing but pleasant as he faces Sabine Cheng, with a slight smile and a bit of hopefulness as he says, “I was just in the area. I was hoping Marinette would be home.” 

“Oh, yes, she’s home. I think she’s been listening to some music, though, she didn’t answer when I called up to her earlier. Run on up, dear, Tom is out and I can’t leave the counter. Just don’t be surprised if you have to knock a few times to get her attention.”

Luka would stand outside of her room all night if that was what it took, but his face reveals nothing. “Thank you, ma’am.”

He feels like a trespasser in the quiet apartment upstairs from the bakery, but it doesn’t slow his steps as he makes his way up to Marinette’s room and knocks on the hatch. There is no answer at first, and after a moment’s thought, he brings his ever present guitar around from his back—he hadn’t even bothered putting it in a case before he left home—and he plays, knowing she will hear his worry in the notes. 

It works, she opens the hatch for him. “Luka?” 

“Hi,” he says, sliding the guitar back behind him, and he feels only the slightest crack in his mask as he meets her eye. “Can I come in? Just for a few minutes.”

“Oh, um...okay. Is everything all right?” She stepped back and let him come the rest of the way up the stairs.

“I was worried about you, that’s all.” He knows the truth will sound weird to her, because she doesn’t know he knows. There was no grand reveal, no accidental slip up, nothing she did wrong and nothing he did right that spilled her secret.

It’s just that Luka is not easy to lie to. It’s not something he’s proud of because it’s not a skill he developed, it’s just a talent he has, like his perfect pitch. He hears untruths as easily as he hears when a note is off key. 

Really, this is one of those days he’d rather not. 

“Are you all right?” he asks, stepping close to her and cupping his hand at the back of her head. It’s kind of a weird thing for a friend to do, he knows, and she gives him a startled look as he rests his fingers there on the silky hair pulled into perfect pigtails. No stickiness clings to his hand, there is no red when he brings his fingers away and rests his hand on her shoulder. She relaxes a little at the return to this familiar gesture. He breathes a little easier, though he notes the tightness in her forehead. “You look like you have a headache. Your mom said you didn’t answer when she called up earlier.”

“O-oh, I didn’t hear her.” He hears the lie. She probably wasn’t home yet. “I was resting, I do have a bit of a headache.”

"I was just nearby and I thought I’d come check on you, I know you’ve had a lot going on and I’m worried you’re going to burn yourself out.” A lie for a lie, followed by a truth. Luka has been worried that she’s overworking herself lately. He told her just this past weekend that it wouldn’t be the end of the world if Kitty Section’s t-shirts took another week. “Can I get you anything, for your head? Medicine? Tea?”

She smiled weakly. “This is my house, I’m supposed to be the one offering you tea. But no thank you, I already took some medicine, and I don’t want any tea. You’re right, though, I think I could use a break. I think I’ll just rest for the afternoon.” 

“You should,” he tells her, making his hand let go of her shoulder. “It’s important to take care of yourself. I’ll go, then, I don’t want to—”

“No,” she says, and she’s looking at him oddly. “No, why don’t you stay? If you’re here I won’t be tempted to jump up and do all those things staring at me from the desk.” She hesitates, and he realizes that she looks like she’s looking for something in his eyes. Somehow he’s let something slip. “We could go downstairs and watch a movie on the couch.”

The offer surprises him but he gladly assents. He makes her sit down and takes care of getting the movie set up before he settles in beside her, guitar set carefully aside. “Your mom said there were snacks if you wanted them.”

“No thank you, I’m not hungry, but help yourself if you are.”

“I’m not hungry either. I might be able to help your head,” he says, brushing a hand along her hair. “Want me to try?”

“Sure,” she says. He shifts on the couch towards her and has her turn away from him. 

Luka slips the bands from her pigtails carefully, and runs his hands through her hair until it falls freely. Then he slips his hands beneath it, places his thumbs at the base of her skull, and moves his fingers in careful circles against her scalp. “Tell me if anything hurts.”

“Ohh,” she sighs, melting into him. “That’s amazing, Luka, where did you learn that?”

“Maman gets terrible headaches sometimes,” he says quietly, deliberately keeping his voice low and soothing. “She doesn’t like doctors and drugs, but sometimes this helps.”

They are quiet for a moment. Then Marinette says, “You know, don’t you.”

Luka’s fingers pause and he isn’t sure how to reply. “Do you want me to know?” he asks at last.

“Sometimes I want someone to know. But it’s so dangerous, Luka. I don’t think  _ he _ reads minds, but—”

"Don’t tell me then,” he says gently. “Then I don’t know, really.”

“I’m not sure  _ he _ cares about plausible deniability.”

Luka sighs. “Well, I can’t change it. I just do. And I wouldn’t have said anything but—”

“You saw the news.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Are you sure you’re alright?” 

She puts her hands on his wrists and moves his hands out of her hair so she can turn and face him. “It’s never fun when one of us gets hurt. I’m always shaken afterwards. Physically I’m fine. A little phantom pain is normal; the body doesn’t always quite believe the magic, you know? But you’ve felt it for yourself now. No gaping head wound. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“Juleka says that all the time,” Luka tells her with a slight smile. “It’s as much of a waste of air for her to say it as it is for you.” 

Marinette wrinkles her nose at him. “You’re such a mom, Luka.”

“Someone in our house has to be,” he replies sardonically, and then immediately wants to take it back. “Does Chat Noir know?” he asks abruptly, to change the subject.

Marinette snorted softly. “No. I love him but he’s not exactly good at letting his emotions take a backseat, and he’s protective enough as it is.” She turns her back to him again, and he slips his fingers back into her hair, resuming the massage. “I wish you didn’t know,” she says, so softly he can barely hear her. “At the same time...I’m kind of glad.”

“It’s a lot to bear alone.”

“Are you going to show up now every time I get hurt?”

"Do you want me to?”

She turns to look at him again and he as to move his hands quickly to keep from pulling her hair. He winces as a few hairs catch on the rough fingers of his left hand but she pays no attention. “You really would come if I asked, wouldn’t you.”

“Of course.” 

“Don’t you have enough people to take care of already?”

Luka raises his eyebrows slightly. “Don’t you?” 

Marinette purses her lips in a pout. “Fair enough.”

“I’ll try to stay away if you really want me to,” he says, gripping her shoulder and looking her in the eye. “But on days like today...it’d be really hard, Marinette. I’m looking at you and touching you and I can see that you’re fine and it’s still hard. So yeah, I might turn up every now and then.”

Marinette sighs and leans forward, laying her head on his shoulder. “It’s nice to have a friend...every now and then.” He expects her to move, but she doesn’t.

“Should I keep going?” he asks, and she hums assent and he puts his hands in her hair a third time, taking a moment to adjust to the new angle. “Feeling any better?” he asks.

“Yeah,” she sighs. “But don’t stop.”

“Sure, Marinette.” Luka continues to rub her head and then the base of her neck with this thumbs, and she is nearly asleep on him by the time the movie ends. He sits and runs his fingers through her hair as the credits roll. Soon, he will go home, and keep his secrets behind his quiet mask. Now, he carries hers also, locked tight where not even Juleka can find them. He will go home and he will watch her battle day after day, and some days he will fight beside her. But from now on, when the fights are too hard or the secrets too heavy, they will have each other when the masks come off, and maybe things will be just a little bit easier to bear. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this ages ago, and just kept fiddling with it and fiddling with it. I still don't love the end, but at least it feels complete now. 
> 
> (My foot surgery went fine, everything as expected, now I just have to heal up)


	9. Smile

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luka is frowning and Marinette doesn’t like it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was so short I wasn’t going to add it here, but it got a lot of love on Tumblr, so I thought maybe I should.
> 
> (Still working on the last chapter of Second Chance if you’re waiting. Hopefully next week.)

It was almost weird, seeing him frown. Marinette rested her chin on her fist and watched him for a moment. Luka almost always had at least a hint of a smile playing at the corners of his lips. Even his most neutral expressions were relaxed. But whatever he was working on—homework, not music, spread out over the Liberty’s small table—must really be frustrating him, because he was frowning down at the page, his brow was furrowed, there was no rhythm to the light tapping of his pencil, and he wasn’t humming. 

Luka was usually so aware of her, but even though they were sitting close enough together she could feel his warmth against her side, he hadn’t noticed she was watching him. 

This just wasn’t right. 

Marinette put her own pencil down. “Luka.”

Despite his absorption he looked up immediately, eyebrows lifting slightly. Marinette leaned over and pressed her lips to his. Luka started slightly and then leaned into the kiss with a pleased hum low in his throat. 

She could see the wondering look in his face as she pulled away. Marinette just flashed him a smile, and turned back to her own work. She didn’t look up again until she was sure he’d done the same. When she did finally glance over, he was smiling down at the page, and humming her song quietly to himself. 

Much better.


	10. Just a Suggestion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luka overhears another complicated plan coming together, and he offers Marinette a suggestion.

Another day, another planning session, another elaborate date scheme. Marinette knew she should be excited and optimistic, but instead she was just...tired. Why should this one go any better than the last four?

She waved at the other girls as they all left, and then turned to Juleka and nodded toward the music coming from the back of the boat. “I’m just going to say hi to Luka before I go.” Juleka nodded and mumbled a farewell before heading back downstairs. Marinette followed the music. Luka always made her feel better. He was just...soothing to be around, and he never made her talk if she didn’t want to. Plus he was her friend, it would be rude to leave without saying anything. 

The boat was even messier than usual, but she found Luka sitting on a case, with his back against the rail, eyes half-lidded as he swayed gently. She paused a moment just to appreciation skill; not only the music, but his ability to make his hands do exactly what he wanted them to.To find the right frets, to move his fingers into the right order, each finding the right string, all while his right hand struck exactly the strings he intended at exactly the right moment. He made it look so effortless and so complicated at the same time. 

Much like their relationship. Effortless, yet complicated.

He smiled faintly and she knew he knew she was there. 

“Hey Luka,” she smiled. “Can I just sit with you for a little bit?” 

“Of course,” he said, sliding over a little to make room. “Pull up a crate.” 

She giggled and perched on the edge next to him. For a while they were silent, just sitting together as Luka played. Marinette’s mind wandered, and when she came back to earth, she realized Luka was frowning.

“Luka?” She touched his arm and he actually jumped. 

“Ah, sorry, I was just...thinking. Sorry, I didn’t mean to zone out on you.”

“I zoned out first,” Marinette giggled. “So I don’t blame you. But...is something wrong? You looked unhappy.”

His hands stilled and he chewed his lip for a moment, then seemed to make some kind of decision. 

“Marinette,” Luka sighed, putting the guitar aside. Marinette looked at him, eyes slightly round. This sounded serious. “I know I’m not supposed to know what you girls talk about down there, but—I’ll be honest, this is a really small boat and privacy is basically an illusion here. Please don’t be upset,” he added, putting his hand on her shoulder as her face paled. “We’re all used to just pretending we don’t hear stuff and most of the time it’s fine, but I just—“ Luka sighed again, dropping his hand back to his own knee, fingers tapping restlessly. “I feel like maybe you’re not getting the best advice,” he said quietly. “And it’s hard for me to sit here and say nothing. And you can tell me to jump ship if you want, that’s be totally within your rights and I wouldn’t be offended at all, but—can I just make a suggestion?”

Marinette tried to steady her breathing. It was beyond embarrassing to think that Luka had heard all their plots and planning, but...at the same time, she felt sure he wouldn’t have called her out on it unless he really felt strongly. He’d always been so careful of her feelings—even when she was maybe a little careless with his. She felt safe with him. So she took a deep breath and said, “Okay.”

Luka nodded to himself. “Listen, it doesn’t matter when you tell him, or how, or where, or what words you use. I get wanting to have a big romantic moment, it’d be a great memory, but if…” He paused, clearly choosing his words carefully before he cleared his throat and went on. “If this guy doesn’t feel the way you want him to,” Luka said, so gently it hurt, “then it won’t be because you picked the wrong place or said the wrong words. It’s not a magic spell where if you just get all the components right and chant it exactly the right way, he’ll fall in love with you. Either he loves you, or…” Luka bumped her shoulder gently with his, smiling. “Or he’s a fool. So don’t put so much pressure on yourself, okay? Facing potential rejection is hard, it’s okay to be scared about it. And honestly, I kind of feel like all this elaborate planning does is give you an excuse to bail when something inevitably goes wrong.” He glanced at her, eyebrows slightly raised. “I might be wrong, but...well. I’m wandering. I guess what I’m trying to say is...when you’re ready to tell him, just be honest. Be yourself. That’s all it should take.”

“What if he doesn’t love me?” Marinette whispered quietly.

“It’ll hurt, I’m not gonna lie.” Luka looked at his hands, fingers lacing together between his knees. “Rejection sucks, no matter how gentle it is. But...at least you’ll know. Think about how long you’ve been wanting this, Marinette. Think about how you’ve felt all that time.”

Marinette did think, and it brought tears to her eyes. All the near misses. All the close calls. All the  _ just a friends _ . The swooping hope, the crushing disappointment.

Luka nodded again, as if he could read her thoughts. Or maybe hear her heart. “Ask yourself, Marinette—could being rejected once and for all possibly hurt more than what you feel right now when you think about that? Than months and months of hoping and being disappointed and not knowing? Ask yourself how much more of this pain you’re willing to put yourself through. Another month? Another year?” Luka took a deep breath. “Rejection hurts, yeah, but there’s freedom in the pain. There’s comfort in knowing where you stand. And if you’re sitting here thinking that no, you’d rather bear the pain of uncertainty than know for sure it’s hopeless, then no amount of planning is going to make you ready to confess, and that’s okay. It’s okay not to be ready, you know?” 

“Do you think he’ll reject me?” Marinette asked in a small voice, certain despite Luka’s caution that he knew exactly who she meant.

“I really don’t know, Marinette,” Luka admitted. “He’s...he’s really hung up on what he  _ thinks _ he’s  _ supposed _ to be doing and feeling, and it makes him hard to read. Like trying to predict a movie character who’s being fed lines from six different scripts.” He hesitated, and Marinette’s heart sank. 

“You think he’ll say no.” 

“I think,” Luka said slowly and carefully, maybe even a little reluctantly, “I think you should be prepared for him to not know what he wants right away. I do think you’re very important to him and he’ll take you seriously. He might say no outright, and then you have your answer. Or, he might realize he doesn’t want to say no, but he’s not where you are just yet, you know? You might have to go a little slow. Ask him on a date, that can’t possibly be mistaken for anything but a date, and give him time to get used to the idea of girlfriend Marinette, and let him go at his own pace.” Luka spread his hands. “That’s when you can woo him with fancy plans and romantic dates and all the brilliance Marinette Dupain-Cheng is capable of.” 

Marinette cracked a smile. “Thanks, Luka.”

Luka smiled back. “I want you to be happy, Marinette.”

“I—I want that for you too, Luka, I really do.” She swallowed, glancing at him. “I wish I could do more to make you happy.”

“You’re doing it,” he said softly. “Just by being true to who you are. Don’t compromise yourself for anybody, Marinette. Love honestly, or not at all. I could never be happy with less, so…” He sat back, and picked up his guitar. “Thanks for listening. I’m sorry again for eavesdropping, I really didn’t do it on purpose.”

“No,” Marinette sighed. “Thanks for caring enough to be honest with me, even though you thought I might be mad. You always give good advice and I care about your opinion.” And she knew that he hadn’t given her any advice he wouldn’t follow himself. He  _ had _ done exactly what he’d advised her, quietly and without drama. 

“Want to play a little name that tune?” Luka grinned, plucking three notes on the guitar. 

Marinette giggled, mood instantly lifting. “Sure. That was Sweat and Leather, by the way.” 

“That was just a warmup. All right, let’s see how well Jagged Stone’s favorite designer knows his music.”


	11. Out of Your League

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So apparently people really want to see Luka take down Lila? The internet is a funny place...after the last chapter of A Little Bit of Warmth it seemed like people really wanted more Luka vs. Lila, so I pulled this scene out of my scrap file and polished it up a bit and put it on Tumblr, and since people seem to like it, I'm adding it here too.

Luka leaned against the pillar at the bottom of the stairs, turning a guitar pick idly in his hand. The crowd thinned and then vanished. Luka frowned. Had he missed her? She wouldn’t have left him, though, not when she knew he was waiting. The door opened again and he looked up, but the girl who came out wasn’t the one he was waiting for. 

“Luka! Are you waiting for Marinette?” Lila bounced down the steps, the two tails of her hair waving back and forth. “She had a little accident in the locker room and she’s probably still cleaning up her things, so she might be a minute. It’s okay though, I’ll keep you company until she gets here.”

“I can wait by myself.” His flat tone would’ve made Juleka proud. 

“Aww, you punk boys get so cute when you’re in loooove.” Her singsong tone made him grit his teeth. “It’s too bad Marinette is so obsessed with Adrien. I mean, you can’t blame her. He’s rich, after all, and his dad’s a famous designer, and he’s such a gentleman,” her smile took on a cruel edge. “The perfect boy to bring home to mom and dad.”

Luka’s knuckles whitened around the pick in his hand and he disguised a deep breath as a sigh as he shifted in place. He couldn’t help scanning the sky for a flutter of darkness. 

“But you know, all those things are so superficial, what really matters is that Marinette has someone that really loves her, and Adrien…” Lila smirked. “Well, Adrien just doesn’t.”

“Yeah, he seemed pretty taken with that girl he went out with, the one from his fencing class? Kagami, that was it.” He kept his expression bland but he was smirking on the inside at the way Lila’s face twisted. She recovered quickly, though.

“Yes, that Kagami, she’s hard to compete with. After all, she’s pretty and athletic, not to mention she’s got all the manners and poise someone at Adrien’s level in society needs. Like me, actually. But poor Marinette, she’d never be able to measure up to someone like Kagami. She’s so clumsy and so...full of ideas, she can’t ever keep it together. She needs someone flexible and easygoing. Someone creative that understands her weird…” Lila gestured vaguely. “Artistic fits.” She sighed, folding her hands together next to her face. “You two would be perfect for each other. If only we could get Marinette to see it.”

_ And there’s the hook. _ It might actually have been smooth, if Lila could have covered her disgust at having to speak even remotely positively about Marinette. 

“You know,” she continued silkily, “I bet  _ I _ could help you win her over.”

“Mmm. Purely out of the goodness of your heart, I’m sure.” 

“I’m not doing it for you, I’m doing it for poor Marinette. She doesn’t have a chance with Adrien and seeing her moon away over him, it’s just sad, don’t you think? She deserves someone who appreciates her. She deserves someone like you. You’d be so much better for her than Adrien.”

“She deserves to decide for herself what would make her happy.”

“Exactly! I’m so glad we agree. She’ll be so much happier if she picks you!” Lila’s sly grin turned his stomach. “And so would you. All it would take is a little nudge in the right direction. I guarantee I could get Adrien to admit he doesn’t care about her. Then all you have to do is be there to pick up the pieces and voila! Happily ever after.”

Yeah, Luka could see all kinds of ways for that plan to go bad. He glanced up the stairs, wondering how bad Marinette’s “accident“ could have been to have taken her this long. “No thanks."

Lila’s face hardened. “You realize I don’t actually need your cooperation, right? I can break her with or without you. It’d just make things easier on Marinette if you were there. It’s cruel, really, to deny her your support.”

Luka’s smile was more a baring of teeth. “It’d take more than your petty lies and name-dropping Adrien Agreste to break Marinette.”

Lila regarded him thoughtfully and a chill went down Luka’s spine. “You might be right about that.” She smirked. “But then again, maybe you’re not. I guess we’ll find out.” Before he could react she latched onto his arm and leaned up to his ear. “If you’re not going to help me, then stay out of my way, or you and your little band won’t ever play another gig in Paris.”

“Don't touch me again,” he said, shrugging her off his arm. Turning toward her put her face much to close for his liking but he stared her in the eye. “You and your fake connections can’t touch me and I’m not afraid of you. I’ve been played by way worse than you and I’m still here. And, just because you’ve been so nice to me, let me enlighten you on a couple things. You will  _ never _ break Marinette. She will always get back up no matter what people like you do to knock her down. She’s so far out of your league that it’s laughable. You might make her unhappy, you might damage her reputation, you might even make her feel hopeless--for a while. Enjoy it while you can, because she’ll always bounce back.” 

He faced forward again, leaning back against the pillar. “Marinette is everything you wish you could be, and now matter how far you tear her down, she’ll still be miles above you. And I’ll have her back, no matter what.” 

“Luka!” Marinette called from the top of the stairs, her arms full and her clearly ripped bag over one arm. Luka pushed off the pillar and went to help her, stopping next to Lila for just a moment.

“And while we’re making threats: stay away from my sister. If I hear one word from Juleka about you, I’ll prove I can play the game as well as you can.” He shot her a smirk, and then shifted to his normal relaxed, friendly expression. “Have a pleasant walk home,” he said brightly, eyes wide and innocent. 

“What was that?” Marinette asked warily when he got to her. 

“Just a lot of noise,” he told her, smiling. “Nothing worth worrying about.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I originally wrote this as part of I'll Give You the Stars and then I decided it wasn't right for that story and wrote the toned down version that ended up in chapter 3 of that story, and it's been sitting around ever since. So today's a good lesson in why I never throw away anything, even if it doesn't work.


	12. Adjusting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Domestic Fluff - Excited to be moving into their own place, Luka and Marinette find they have some adjusting to do.

“We did it,” Marinette bounced on her toes.

“We did,” Luka grinned, hands on his hips beside her. “We’re officially moved in to our very first apartment.” 

They both looked at the space, and then at each other, and then high-fived like the dorks they were. 

“Wait,” Luka said, as if realizing something, and he caught her hand again. 

“What?” Marinette asked, and instead of answering her he pulled her close, bent her back, and kissed her deeply. “What was that for?” she asked breathlessly, when he set her upright.

“I just remembered there were no more nosy parents or siblings to barge in,” he grinned, and chuckled when Marinette laughed and stretched up to kiss him again. “So what’s the plan?” Luka asked, when they had gotten their fill for the moment. “Because I know you have a plan.”

“Grocery shopping!” Marinette said cheerfully, slipping out of his arms. “I don’t want to eat takeout on our first night.”

She could see on his face that Luka would have been fine with takeout after all the work they’d already done, but he wasn’t going to naysay Marinette’s enthusiasm or decline her cooking. “Have you got the recipe?” Luka asked, opening the door for her. 

“The recipe?” Marinette said, glancing at him as she walked through. “I have the grocery list on my phone.”

“Yeah, okay,” he closed and locked the door of their new apartment behind them, and took her hand, sticking his keys in his pocket with a grin. “Time for our first shopping trip.”

Of course Luka was right, Marinette had a plan, as usual, and her list was meticulously organized, but as they went through the store, filling up the cart, Luka started to fidget. Marinette started watching him out of the corner of her eye after the third, “Babe, are you sure?” He had a guitar pick out, turning it in his fingers, while his other hand tapped a rhythm against his leg. There was a crease between his eyebrows, and he just looked...nervous. Resolving to talk to him after they were done, Marinette continued down her list with single-minded focus, until Luka stopped dead in the aisle. 

“Wait, stop, Marinette, this is crazy.” He caught her elbow, tugging to get her to stop with him. “There’s no way we can get all this and we’re only halfway through the store.”

“Yes, we can,” Marinette frowned, looking up at him. “We need food, Luka. We’re starting from scratch here.”

“Just— _ Where are we going to put it _ ?” Luka said, looking down into the cart and running his fingers through his hair nervously. “We don’t even have shelves put up yet, we’ve got to be careful what we put up there anyway or everything will fall off if the boat takes a roll and I can live with like, cereal falling on me but some of this stuff is too heavy—”

Marinette finally understood. She reached out and grabbed Luka’s hand, pulling him around to look at her. “Hey.” When he tore his eyes away from the pile of food and focused on her face, she took his other hand. “You don’t live on the boat anymore. We have cabinets, we have a pantry, we have a full-size refrigerator with a freezer and I,” she waved the grocery list, “Have a plan. We can buy a week’s worth of food and some basic staples and it will all go in the kitchen and there will be no cereal boxes attacking you in the night, even if our apartment did take a sudden roll, which it most likely will not.” She shrugged. “Unless there’s an akuma attack. No guarantees there.

Luka blinked at her for a moment, and a slow blush spread up his neck. “It is a really big fridge,” he said. “And we didn’t take up  _ all  _ the cabinets with the dishes and all your baking...stuff. And…”

“And?” Marinette prompted gently.

Luka’s hands tightened on hers. “And I don’t live on the boat anymore.” Luka sighed, pulling her into a hug. “I’m sorry, I’m an idiot. All this planning and effort and the second I let my mind wander, I forgot.”

“You’re not an idiot,” she said, snuggling into him and patting him gently. “You’re just adjusting. It’s all been a lot of adjusting, but we’ll get used to it. I know you miss the water and I miss my balcony and our place isn’t perfect—”

“—But it’s our place,” he said, kissing the top of her head. “And you’re in it, so I don’t need the water. And—wait, this means we won’t have to do the grocery shopping every couple of days? I can go a whole week without going to the store?” 

Marinette giggled. “Well, only if we finish the list, and only if I didn’t forget anything. Wait, did you seriously only buy a day or two’s worth of groceries at a time?”

“As long as we were docked, yeah,” Luka shrugged. “Maman used a lot of the food storage space for instruments and God knows what else. When we went on a trip we had to rearrange everything and stock enough food to get where we wanted to be, but...yeah, mostly we bought the minimum we could.” He grinned. “Frankly not having to go to the grocery store constantly is enough to make me want to dance in the street.” 

“Maybe you can do that on the way home,” Marinette giggled. “But before we can do that, we have to finish this list.” 

“Right. Cool. One question. How are we going to get all this home with just the two of us?” 

“Well—” Marinette said, and stopped. “We are... _ not _ going to use the bakery van,” she said slowly. “So, um…” she grinned sheepishly. “We’re strong, it’ll be fine!” she declared, and was off down the aisle before Luka could say anything else.


	13. Priorities

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by a tumblr post that's been going around about people finding their lovers have been hurt and wanting to know who's responsible. (you can find it [here](https://quickspinner.tumblr.com/post/190188210148/celticpyro-counterpunches))

Luka threw himself down on his bed and sighed, resisting the urge to touch his face. It hurt like hell but touching it would only make it worse. He’d get up in a minute and—

“Luka!”

Luka shot off his bed and winced in pain, turning quickly to face the porthole, leaning his elbows on it like he’d been looking out. Crap, he’d forgotten she was coming over today. He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to quell his panic. There was no way he could hide this from her.

“Luka?” she called again, nearer this time.

“Hey, Marinette,” he called, wincing. “I’m in here.” He kept his back to the door even after he heard her come in, though he knew he was only delaying the inevitable. Ugh, even the sun on his face hurt, what the hell?

“Hey,” Marinette chirped, her arms circling him from behind, her cheek resting in the middle of his back. 

“Hey yourself,” he smiled, putting his hand over hers where they clasped over his chest. “How was your day?” 

“Ugh, it was—wait. Luka?” Marinette let go and leaned around him, and he looked away even though he knew it was pointless. She put a hand on his arm, and he gave in and let her turn him to face her. Her beautiful eyes went wide and he saw them track the progress of the fight across his face. The black eye, puffy and promising to be spectacularly colored in the morning, the swollen and split lip. Her delicate fingers came up to trace feather light over his cheek, turning his face so she could see more clearly, and her thumb wiped a bit of mostly dried blood away from his mouth. She stared at it for a moment, and then looked back at him.

The look in her eyes made him frightened for her. “Who did this to you?” she asked, and though it was no more than a whisper, there was venom and steel in it. It made him shiver at the same time that it scared the hell out of him. 

Luka took her hand gently and moved it away. “No one important.” He stroked a hand through her hair, but she batted it away.

“Luka!” Marinette scowled. 

“I know you’re upset,” he soothed, as if he weren’t the one who was hurt. All he cared about was calming her down. “I’m sorry I let it happen. I didn’t think things were going to escalate that far.” 

Marinette immediately drew back and took his hands, examining them, but found no damage. She looked up at Luka, her mouth a thin line. “You didn’t fight back. You got akumatized for  _ me _ , but you can’t fight for yourself?” Her voice went up an octave and he winced as she nearly shouted, “Why don’t you ever fight for yourself, Luka?”

“Easy, easy, Marinette,” he crooned, squeezing her hands. “It’s not like I just laid down and took it, but I wasn’t about to risk my career just for the chance to punch a jerk in the face.” He started to make a face and then winced. “I might have thrown an elbow if I’d had an opening, but it happened too fast.” He  _ had _ defended himself, dodging and blocking with his now-bruised forearms until he managed to get a leg behind his attackers’ knees to knock him down and buy enough time for the hall monitor to get in between them. Luka shrugged. “I didn’t have a magical super suit to protect my hands,” he reminded her. “I know how to throw a punch but my hands are too important for me to risk in a fight over something stupid. And it was stupid, the guy wasn’t even angry at me really, just life in general.” 

“Luka Couffaine,” Marinette snarled, eyes flashing. “You tell me who did this to you right now and I swear—”

Luka pulled his hands free and cupped her face. “No. No, no, I cannot be the reason Ladybug gets akumatized, Marinette. You need to calm down. I’m fine. I just won’t be as pretty for a few days.” The joke only made her scowl harder. “Marinette,  _ please _ ,” he begged, when the fire in her eyes didn’t abate. “Let it go, baby, it was just a little schoolyard scrap.” He kissed her softly, though it hurt. “I’m okay.” He kissed her again. “I’m okay, I promise. I’m right here, I’m fine. It’s not important.” 

“You’re not okay,” she said, and the hitch in her voice was a good sign. “ _ You  _ are important, Luka, don’t act like it’s all right for someone to do this to you.” She reached up and trailed her cool fingers over his face again with so much tenderness he almost didn’t feel the pain. He closed his eyes for just a moment, reveling in her touch and the happy flutter her words started in his chest. 

“I know, you’re right,” he replied, and then opened his eyes and scanned their surroundings quickly. He didn’t see anything yet. “I didn’t mean to imply that, I just mean that it’s over now and it’s nothing that won’t heal.” Heaven help them all if she was akumatized, even if he managed to get the earrings away before Hawkmoth took her. The idea of an akuma as brilliant as Marinette, fueled by all her righteous fury and robbed of her capacity for empathy, struck fear down to his bones. Worse, he knew what it would do to her, and how she would beat herself up afterwards, if by some miracle they managed to defeat her. He didn’t want that for her.

“I  _ am _ okay,” he repeated, returning his attention to her. “I’m a little bruised, but it was just a garden-variety schoolyard bully, Marinette. No supervillains, no special powers, just a guy with a grudge who doesn’t like himself very much. I wasn’t in any real danger, and if I had been, I _ would _ have fought back harder.” He dropped his hands to her shoulders and tugged her closer. “You’re not going to lose me this way. I know it scares you and I’m touched that you care about me so much, but I don’t need you to rescue me. I knew what I was doing. He got suspended and I got off with a warning.” Luka felt her arms come up around him and her face turn to press into his neck, and smiled a little. That hurt, too. His eyes suddenly snapped to the light coming through the portal, which was flickering faintly, and when he looked at the porthole proper he swore he saw a purple flicker beyond. He squeezed Marinette tighter. “Honestly if he doesn’t get some therapy soon you might get a chance to punch him in the face as an akuma,” he joked weakly, wishing it wasn’t quite so true. It made Marinette snort so he’d take it. “What I’d really like right now,” he said softly, keeping his eyes glued to the portal, “Is some ice and snuggles. Can you let it go if I agree to let you spoil me any way you want to for the rest of the afternoon? Please?” 

Marinette growled, still pressed into him, and then sighed. She cuddled closer to him, and he could feel the tension in her body ease. Her hands released their tight grip on the fabric of his jacket and smoothed over his back instead. Luka echoed her sigh. He should have thought of appealing to her nurturing side sooner, honestly. Maybe that first punch had rattled his brain. “Okay,” she said finally, lifting her face. “You lay down, and I’ll go get you some painkillers and an ice pack. We’ll clean you up and I’ll give you all the snuggles you want.” She leaned up and kissed his jaw lightly. 

“Thank you,” Luka sighed, slumping a little in relief as he watched the flash of purple moved away and the light grew steady. “Thank you, Marinette. Both for caring, and for letting me handle this my way.”

“If you get really hurt,” she warned, “I’m not going to be so forgiving. So you’d better take care of yourself better from now on.”

“I’ll remember,” he promised, giving her one more squeeze, and then releasing her to sit on the edge of the bed. “There’s painkillers in the bathroom cabinet.”

“Right.” Marinette went to the door, and then paused and looked back. “I do, you know.”

“Hmm?” Luka looked up, tired and achy now that the danger had passed and he could pay attention to his body again. 

“I do care about you that much,” Marinette said, blushing. Luka smiled, but she continued in a rush, “I love you, you big idiot.” Then she slipped out of the door and Luka stared after her, his good eye wide and the bad one marginally less slitted.

The only thing that kept him from smiling wide enough to split his face was the knowledge that if he opened the cut on his lip again she wouldn’t let him kiss her when she came back. 


	14. Spontaneity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little fluff for fun.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was over Adrien Agreste.

She’d resolved to make it happen, had put in the necessary effort, she’d done everything she was supposed to do (as informed by both her mother and grandmother, who were both very wise women) and yet had never expected to succeed. Somewhere in her romantic teenaged heart she’d believed that she would die sad and alone, sighing over pictures of Adrien with his children and grandchildren and great grandchildren until she finally withered away like her poor broken heart.

Yet, despite all of her expectations, Marinette was okay. Well. Relatively speaking. There were an awful lot of things besides boy trouble dragging her down, but it was a relief to cross at least that one stressor off the list, and it made her less vulnerable to several of the other troubles.

Marinette was less relieved to find that new feelings could grow in her cracked heart as easily as weeds in a cracked sidewalk. She didn’t  _ want _ to feel any of those things for someone else, not yet. 

But, since when did what Marinette  _ wanted _ count for anything? After a few fleeting crushes that thankfully didn’t get very far, and which certainly didn’t have anything to do with her trying to distract herself from scarier feelings that she wasn’t ready to face, there was still only one boy who had the kind of effect on her that Adrien did. Except, not, because while she was still nervous and occasionally flustered, she never felt the crushing doubt and anxiety she’d felt when she talked to Adrien.

Possibly because Luka had made sure she had no doubts about his feelings for her. It was easier to face rejection when you knew it was pretty damn unlikely. 

Easier, but still not easy.

But if she wanted anything to happen, she was going to have to meet him halfway. Luka knew she had feelings for someone else, and while that didn't seem to stop him from caring about her, it was absolutely enough to stop him from making any kind of move on her. His usual repertoire of touches continued—a light touch on her waist to steady her or let her know he was moving past, a hand to pull her up, and of course the patented Luka Couffaine Shoulder Grab of Comfort™, but he never moved a single step beyond those boundaries unless she did so first. But when she did, he always reciprocated. If she took his hand, he closed his fingers around hers. If she leaned into him, he put his arm around her. If she buried her face in his chest, he held her, lightly if she did nothing else, tightly if she pressed close.

Marinette had never imagined that kind of love until Luka showed it to her. The kind that was unselfish and unassuming, quietly honest, tenderly respectful, and only as present as you wanted it to be, as long as you didn’t look in his eyes. Because when his eyes met hers, she felt it down to her bones, whether he intended it or not. 

Surely if she kissed him, he would kiss her. Then she wouldn’t have to worry about finding the right words. She just had to find the right moment.

Unfortunately Marinette  _ sucked  _ at finding the right moment. She had come up with plan after complicated plan to  _ create _ the right moment with Adrien, and had failed spectacularly every time. And while Adrien might have appreciated the effort and the drama, Luka was much more low key, and she wasn’t even sure what the right ingredients were for the right moment with him, let alone how to put them together. She knew that it included him and her and probably his guitar, but what else? 

She couldn’t ask the girls. Weirdness aside, Luka would want it to be personal, not something to share with so many people. Wouldn’t he? She wondered if he had ever thought about The Moment and what it looked like to him. 

Spontaneous. Natural. Easy. 

All things Marinette was kind of horrible at—except when she was with Luka.

A quiet, in-between moment, the unplanned atmosphere of studio lights, and words from the heart not intended for a reply. An affirmation more than a confession. Gentle, but not passionless. 

Ugh, she had so much to live up to. 

“You’re thinking awfully hard tonight.”

Marinette jumped. 

“Sorry,” Luka smiled at her. “Just wondering what’s on your mind, if you feel like sharing.” He didn’t bother saying it was okay if she didn’t. He’d said it enough times to know she knew. 

Marinette stared at the rapidly darkening sky through the glass of the Liberty’s sunroom and contemplated how to sum it up for him without giving herself entirely away. Luka was perceptive and insightful and would know the truth if she gave him even the slightest hint.

Which might solve her problem, actually, but he deserved better. “Being spontaneous,” she said at last, and pouted at the immediate quiet laughter that shook him.

“That’s not really how being spontaneous works, you know,” he teased. 

Marinette pouted harder.

“Aw, Marinette,” he sighed with a smile, setting his guitar aside—a silent invitation for her to come closer if she wanted.

She very much wanted, so she slid over next to him. He lifted his arm and she dipped under it, snuggling against his side and drawing her feet up onto the couch beside her. 

“You seem happier today,” Luka observed. “I’m glad.”

Marinette hummed in agreement without really answering, still preoccupied. 

“Can I ask what you’re planning to be spontaneous about?” he added, and she wanted to smack him for the obvious amusement in his voice. 

“No,” she said shortly. 

“Okay, okay,” he chuckled. “Sorry.”

Marinette pushed herself up and moved to face him. Luka’s arm moved from her shoulder to her waist as she turned, and he looked back at her with a mixture of curiosity and patience, probably thinking she was about to confess all her troubles.

He was wrong though. Marinette might suck at romance but she was really good at vengeance and she was about to get him back for teasing her. She  _ could too _ be spontaneous. 

Marinette leaned up, caught his collar with one hand to pull him the little distance she needed to reach, and kissed him. Quickly, and a little too hard, and she hadn’t held his face or looked in his eyes or even moved her lips or  _ any _ of that, but she made the move, right, and that was what mattered, even if she was so...so  _ Marinette  _ about it. 

Oh God, what had she been thinking?

Luka looked surprised, and the high points of his cheeks tinted red, just enough to be noticeable. “Thank you,” he said with a faint smile. 

Marinette felt her own face flood with color, and she promptly buried her face in his shoulder with a small squeak. She felt stupid and incompetent and  _ young— _

She felt Luka’s chest move as he took in one slow, deep breath, and then another. Crap, he was deciding what to do. She bit her lip and squeezed her eyes shut, not daring to look up.

Slowly his arm tightened around her waist, and he took another breath. The hand on her back moved, and she felt his long fingers slip into her hair and comb gently through. It felt good, and she relaxed a little. Then he stopped, and touched the back of her neck lightly, not applying pressure in any way but still somehow conveying that he wanted her to look up at him. 

“Marinette?” he said quietly. It came out rough, and he cleared his throat. Marinette took a deep breath of her own and pushed back to look at him, determined to see this through even if the embarrassment killed her. “I’m sorry,” he said, “It's just, I don’t want to be wrong about this or—or read more than you meant to, I—“  _ Oh, Luka _ , she thought, and she took his face in her hands and looked him in the eye. Whatever he was saying trailed off, turning into a small needy sound as Marinette kissed him again, firmly but not so hard, though just as quick because she still wasn’t  _ that _ brave. They shared a quick gasping breath and then  _ he  _ was kissing her and she nearly forgot to breathe at all as her hands fell back to his chest, her fingers curling in the fabric of his hoodie, trying to respond as Luka kissed her again and again. It was soft and gentle and  _ Luka _ , but there was still something in the way he clutched at her waist, the quick, shallow breaths moving his chest under her hands, and the way his eyes stayed closed for a moment afterwards that made her feel all shivery inside. 

Luka rested his forehead against hers and if there was a bit of  _ finally _ in his sigh, it wasn’t the finally of  _ you’ve come to your senses,  _ it was  _ I’ve wanted to do that for forever,  _ and it made joy instead of guilt well up in Marinette’s chest. She snuggled back against him, dropping her head back down to his shoulder, and felt him enfold her, squeezing her tight without any of his usual caution. Luka curled around her, resting his chin on top of her head, and somehow even though she couldn’t see his face, she knew he was happy. 

_ She _ made him happy. Marinette smiled, huge and bright, and though he couldn’t see her face either, she felt him chuckle and knew that he knew too. 


	15. What Goes Around

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost forgot I wrote this one; a bunch of us on tumblr were tossing around ideas about Viperion and Bunnix bonding over being time twins, and it all went to a very dark and angsty place, but before it dove into the pit I wrote this bit, which while not cheerful exactly, at least had some hope in it.

She comes to him the first time he sees one of them die. He comes home from the battle, shaken and pale, without even Sass to comfort him, and there’s a lady sitting on his bed in a bunny suit. He just stands there in the doorway and blinks, pretty certain that none of the mainstream media scenarios regarding bunny girls in the bedroom apply here, and waits. 

She grins and says, “Chill as you ever were, Viper. You’re no fun.”

It doesn’t even occur to him to deny it. He just shrugs. “Sorry to disappoint. You’re not the weirdest thing that’s happened to me today.”

She gives him a sad smile and tells him her name is Bunnix, and she’s a friend. And she gives him something that he didn’t know he needed—someone to share his secrets with. All the things he’s seen. All the feelings he can’t share with anyone else.

Not even Marinette. He can’t share his secrets with her because she won’t share hers with him, and as long as she holds that wall, he will respect it. Luka’s not sure he could tell her anyway. She already bears so much. She can’t carry his pain as well.

Luka can’t call on Bunnix but she always knows, as if she has a list of dates and times somewhere where she knows he will need him, and she shows up right on time at every one. Every close call. Every violent failure. Every time he can’t reset, because even though the outcome was less than ideal, even though there were sacrifices, even though there were wounded, they won in the end and the victory was too precious to risk. 

In time, Luka is closer to Bunnix than to any other human being. Even his sister, who can never know any of this. Even Marinette.

Because even Marinette doesn’t know that their first kiss tasted like blood, because she doesn’t remember it. But he does, and so does Bunnix, when she holds him as he cries his broken heart out on her shoulder, as he sobs out how Marinette tried to stop him from using the reset, because she was willing to die if it meant Hawkmoth stayed defeated.

It takes him a long time to forgive Ladybug for that, for the  _ I love you _ she whispered and the kiss she used to distract him so his transformation would wear off before he could reset. For the way he had to tear her away and drop her to the rooftop to get to his bracelet in time. 

Bunnix still won’t tell him whether he did the right thing. Whether letting Marinette die would have been worth it. All she will say is, “If letting her die had been the only way, I would have been there to stop you.”

It’s the only question he ever asks her about the future. He doesn’t want to know. He already carries too much of the weight of what might have been, he can’t handle the burden of what might yet be, and he respects Bunnix for bearing it. 

“I feel like you don’t get much out of this friendship,” he says to her one day, wiping away tears that he has long since stopped bothering to hide from her. 

“I will,” Bunnix says, patting his shoulder. “Everything I’ve said to you, you’ll one day say to me.” She grins when he looks at her in surprise. “You don’t think I got all this wise zen shit I’ve been saying to you all by myself, do you? Someday I’ll be as green and wet behind the ears as you, and you’ll know what to do.”

Luka’s forehead creases. “But if you’re saying things that you learned from me, that I’ll say because I learned them from you--” Bunnix ruffles his hair until he loses his train of thought.

“Don’t,” she says cheekily. “You’ll get a migraine.”

One day he is fighting when a new figure appears on the field, younger than the one he knows, determined but shaken, easily confused and overwhelmed by her new power. He swoops down from his observation point, drags her to safety, and gives her a fond smile when she stares up at him with wide, frightened eyes. 

“Guess it’s my turn,” he says, chuckling, and the expression of pouting resentment she gives him is so Bunnix that he nearly gets them caught by laughing out loud. 

It’s not love, between him and Bunnix. Maybe there was a crush for a while, on his side because she is pretty cool and older than him, and on her side later for pretty much the same reasons, and also because it’s hard to be that vulnerable with somebody and not have feelings sneak in. But ultimately, the feeling between them is something like being two bricks in the same sea wall, cemented together and holding back the tide. 


	16. Your Lips are Moving

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little silly something I was inspired to make while listening to the radio.

Sitting on the Liberty’s couch, wedged between Alya and an extremely bouncy and overly-enthusiastic Rose, Marinette was trying desperately to keep a neutral expression on her face while her skin was trying to crawl off her body. If she’d known  _ she  _ was going to be here…

The latest round of ooh’s and ah’s died down and Marinette tried not to cringe at the sound of  _ that voice _ .

“And then Jagged said I’d given him the idea that broke him out of his songwriting block!” Lila concluded triumphantly. She looked around at all of them with what Marinette clearly recognized as smug satisfaction, and sure enough several of the girls drew breath for another round of impressed exclamations and fawning. 

Marinette contemplated shattering the glass in her hand and using the shards to damage her own hearing. 

Before anybody could actually speak a powerful  _ male _ voice rang out from the galley, singing, “I know you’re lyin’, cause your lips are moving, baby do you think I’m dumb? I might be young, but I ain’t stupid—”

Lila’s mouth dropped open in shock and outrage and for a moment her rage was plain. Marinette felt a thrill of absolute, unmitigated glee and had to bite down hard on her lip to contain her smile. 

“ _ Luka _ ,” Juleka yelled sharply, and the girls around her flinched at the unexpected volume.

Luka’s head popped over the counter and he closed the fridge absently behind him, popping his earbuds out to hang around his neck. “Oh, hey Jules. Sorry, I didn’t realize you had company.”

“I told you they were coming,” Juleka grumbled, and Luka shrugged. 

“I forgot.” He flashed a grin in their direction. “Hey Marinette.” 

All the girls’ eyes turned to her except Juleka, who was still glaring at her brother. Marinette blushed, ignoring the one pair of narrowed eyes on her amidst all the wide ones, her heart suddenly fluttering in her chest for reasons entirely unrelated to their scrutiny. She raised her hand in a feeble wave, ducking her head slightly. “Hi.”

His grin widened. “If you’ve got time before you leave you should come on up, I had some stuff I wanted to talk to you about,” he said, nodding towards the stairs as he pulled some snack bags down out of an upper cabinet. “Might mean a new commission for you with some friends of mine. Sorry for interrupting, ladies,” he added, trying to balance his pile of loot. He bopped on up the stairs, picking up his song again, at the top of his powerful lungs. “You only love me when you’re here,  _ you’re so two-faced, two faced babe _ .”

Oh it was probably wrong how much Marinette was enjoying the color Lila was turning. Some part of her felt a little frisson of fear for Luka if he got on Luka’s bad side, but the rest of her was ready to put him up for sainthood.

“You’re so embarrassing,” Juleka mumbled, bringing her hands up to shield her face. 

“If your lips are moving, If your lips are moving, then you lyin’ lyin’ lyin, baby,” Luka sang back down the hatch, tossing them a wave and a smirk from the top of the stairs.

“Jerk!” Juleka screamed, lobbing a throw pillow in his direction. “Ugh, why am I not an only child?” 

Marinette giggled, and slapped a hand over her mouth when all eyes turned to her. 

“Um,” she said, and got quickly to her feet. “Well, if it’s about a commission I should probably go see what it’s about seeyouguyslaterbye!” She ran out of the room after Luka. He didn’t look at all surprised when she appeared in the sunroom, just grinned and tossed her a bag of chips. Marinette caught them and tossed them aside, then threw her arms around his neck and planted a kiss on his cheek. “ _ Thank  _ you.”

“For what?” he asked innocently, but the grin that split his face immediately afterwards wasn’t innocent at all.

Marinette almost kissed him for real in that moment. He looked away just in time, cheeks reddening, and coughed. “So, um, you want to talk about that commission?” 

“There’s really a commission?” Marinette said in surprise. “I...guess I thought that was just an excuse.”

Luka nudged her towards a deck chair. “It can be an excuse and still be the truth. It’s not like I don’t talk you up to everybody I know.”

“You do not,” Marinette gasped, sinking into the chair. 

“Marinette,” he said, putting on a wounded expression and pressing a hand to his chest. “Are you saying I’m a liar?” 

It was such a good imitation of Lila’s wounded playacting that Marinette burst out laughing, and Luka could only hold his straight face a moment more before joining her. 

When they finally sobered enough to talk business, Luka passed her some snacks and told her about his friend who had a big audition coming up and wanted a signature piece to really make a statement. Before long, though, they were just chatting, and teasing, and it was so much better than being down there with the girls and the liar, or up here by himself with his guitar. 

“Be honest,” Marinette said finally, leaning towards him slightly. “You weren’t _ actually _ listening to Meghan Trainor, were you?” 

Luka picked up his phone and looked her in the eye as he pulled out the plug of the earbuds he’d wrapped around his phone and started the music up again on speaker. It blared out,  _ I know you’re lyin, your lips are movin, baby don’t you know I’m done. _

Marinette giggled, and Luka shrugged. “I have a bunch of themed playlists, and I like all kinds of music, even if rock is my favorite.” 

Marinette raised her eyebrows. “You have a liar-themed playlist?” 

Luka chuckled. “Nah, just...lips and kissing. Somehow it turns out a lot of those have a good beat, so…” he shrugged.

Marinette shook her head. “Whatever makes you happy, I guess.”

Luka had several responses to that which were probably better left unsaid, so he just smiled. “With lips like yours,” he sang, “You could talk me into anything,” and laughed as Marinette threw a balled up napkin at him. “Careful,” he teased. “You might put my eye out.” 

“You’re terrible,” she laughed, getting to her feet and gathering her things. “I love it. Thanks for the laugh, Luka. I feel a lot better. I’ll see you soon, okay?” 

“Sure. Anytime, Marinette.” His gaze softened as he watched her stumble over the gangplank, still giggling to herself. He fell back into his chair, humming to himself. “You said hello, I said oh no, here we go again,” he sang softly to himself, letting his head fall back to look up into the sky. “With lips like yours, you could talk me into anything.” He turned his head and his eyes found her on the bank, a bounce in her step as she headed home, and he shook his head. “With arms like yours, you could hold me all night long…” Luka sighed, and reached for his phone. It was definitely time for a different playlist. 

At least until the other girls came back upstairs. After all, it wouldn’t be  _ his _ fault what Juleka heard when she came walking up here into his space.


End file.
